Deaf to the Sound of Death
by Dropthebassguitar
Summary: !One Shot! Sollux is whisked away on an adventure by Aradia in the hopes that it may bring them closer together, but destiny has something else in store for them. Things will never be the same again. Implied Arasol/Solradia. Fav, Follow and Review!


**Hey people!**  
**This is a short AraSol story, basically an extended one shot.**  
**I wanted my last story: "This is War Not A Kismesistude" to be a one shot, but I ended up dragging it on, making it harder**  
**So hopefully this story still gets noticed despite being only a chapter long.**  
**The premise is Pre-SBurb. I don't wanna give too much away.**  
**Hopefully I'm the first person to write with this plot, otherwise I'm screwed.**  
**~Fave, Follow, Review~**  
**~Means more lovely arasol stories from me!~**

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Sollux glared angrily at the screen of his husktop, the bright light in his dark room was almost blinding.

"A compiling error? Corrupt filesh deleted?!" He angrily queried, reading from the screen. He retorted angrily by flipping the computer off of his lap and inadvertently launched it at a nearby wall, causing it to smash into several large chunks and creating a loud thud that at a later time of the day probably would have woken his neighbors. Sollux didn't care, everyone else in the whole gogdamn hive stem was a "fucking bulge nugget".

The Gemini began to screech expletives to himself in frustration.

After several minutes of sulking around his hive and unsuccessfully attempting to find a reason to continue being angry he finally calmed down.

He walked over to the newly created mess of plastic and circuits in the corner of his respiteblock and sighed; this was the third one he'd broke this sweep. Thankfully his fixation for duality meant he always had a backup in some shape or form, but the rising number of broken husktops stood to prove that his often erratic mentality wasn't getting any better which in itself was very depressing.

It was fairly late into the night, but not late enough that the sun was close to appearing and signifying it was time to hit the recupricoon.

Too early for sleep, Too late to get anything interesting done.

The boring and isolated life of Sollux Captor.

Well that wasn't entirely true, he did have his lusus. But his lusus was just a colossal waste of space in his eyes, so it's no surprise it spent most of its time chained to the roof of his hive complex. No hard feelings of course.

Sollux moped onto his couch and stared at the muddy green ceiling.

"well then.." he muttered.

His wallowing was interrupted by a loud knock on his door, at first he dismissed it but several soon followed and his introversion began to wither away.

Who would come see him, at this hour?

He was still not old enough to be getting a visit from the imperial drones, and his apartment was too high up for some meaningless merchant to come a knocking.

Someone was here with serious intent. Good or bad?

Sollux's first intention was to go with the latter, so he grabbed a wooden sweeping utencil as a means of self preservation and cautiously approached the door.

A slight turn of the handle, a gentle pull; Both of these did not happen for the door was forced inwards as soon as the slightest bit of pressure was applied to the opening mechanism.

Sollux screeched like a wriggler and raised the sweeping device, ready to swat whosoever came within his proximity.

He stood one footed in fear with his eyes shut tight for a few seconds, it was only then when his brain realized that he wasn't under an attack of any sort.

He kept his extremely inelegant poise and opened his bichromatic eyes.  
He looked to see none other than Aradia Medigo.

She looked up at the somewhat shaken hacker with a deep set smile that cut into her cheeks, creating only the cutest of dimples.  
Aradia stared for a moment, too excited to question Sollux on his absurd reaction.

"Hey Sollux!" she said as joyful as ever.

Sollux tried to regain his composure and keep it cool.

"Sup aa, what brings you to my hive at this hour?"

Aradia tugged at a back pack on her small shoulders for emphasis.

"I was just out on my way to some nearby ruins to unearth some treasure and I thought I might stop by!"

"Sure come right in" said Sollux as he began to fully open the door so Aradia and her oversized backpack got a wide enough berth.

She walked over to one of the two couchs that the introvert owned. She chose the red one over the blue.  
Sollux's hive was a total mess; grubs, wires, honey and computer parts littered everywhere.  
Aradia usually took the uncanny state of his living space as a sign that he hadn't had company in a while, and boy was she was about to change that.

The Aries took the back pack off and placed it on the other section of her appointed couch, meanwhile Sollux sprawled out the other one.

Both piece's of furniture were placed so they faced each other. They were a recent addition after Aradia had helped Sollux make his hive a more social environment for guests, which he never planned on having anyway.

"So what have you been up to this evening?" asked Aradia.

Despite her inquisition, she already knew from the mess in which she was currently that Sollux had done little since the last time they met.  
She saw it has her duty to liberate him from his own introversion, even if he didn't want to be liberated.

Sollux mumbled in sparse reply; "Not much, the usual"

Aradia let out a brief sigh and sneakily put the backpack on again.

"Come with me, I'm taking you out for the one millionth time this sweep Mr Shut-in."

She leaped from the couch and grabbed Sollux by the hand, who, although having heard what she was about to do was still surprised by her sudden gesture.

Heading for the door, she pulled him along with her, trying her best not to trip on any wires.  
Despite the large amount of gear present on her back and her short frame Aradia was still extremely agile.

Sollux did his best to keep up with her momentum, not because he wanted to go with her but because he couldn't be bothered to try and stop someone as stubborn as her.

After she managed to get through the threshold with Sollux in hand she released her grasp and slowed her pace to a brisk walk.

As expected he didn't return back to his forlorn hive, he just kept up with her.  
Although he hated being anywhere other than his hive he would travel to the other side of Alternia and back if only she were willing to go with him.  
By the time they had both made their way to the bottom of Sollux's communal hive stem via the stairs they were both puffing and panting frantically.

"Where... is it we're going ... to ... to-night?" asked Sollux, clenched over, gasping for air.

Aradia took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"Well... You know those ruins I mentioned earlier? They're meant to hold a legendary artifact that allows one to contact the dead. Pretty cool huh?"

She did the usual Aradia gimmick of speaking in a imitational ghost voice and waving her arms around her face when ever she had to refer to anything to do with the dead.

Sollux uneasily replied, rubbing the back of his neck "Yeah... I ... Uh guess so..".

"Look... " Said Aradia. Placing her hand comfortably on Sollux's shoulder.

"I know that you don't like exploring, which is why I never really ask you to come with me. But I'm trying to make us both happy with this. You see these ruins are secured by some sort of code system. I can't solve it, but I know you probably can. I'm not asking you to come just for my personal gain. I just thought it might bring us closer together?"

Sollux zoned out, only to return to Alternia a few seconds ago.  
His bipolar disorder often effected the speed of his decision making at times, usually during the worst of them.

He placed his hand on Aradias hip, her hand still on his.  
He noticed a small blush appear on her face.  
It was hard not to blush too.

"Well Miss Medigo, ace explorer, lead the way"

Aradia quickly broke the contact and looked away, blushing red and smiling like mad.

She walked towards a small footpath that bordered Sollux's hive stem, bringing him with her by the hand again, but with a much looser grip.

After a few blocks down it led away from the bright lights and loud noises of the city, into the wilds.  
Being fairly low on the hemospectrum meant he had a greater chance at being able to live in the city, but only on the outskirts.  
Which was actually a blessing because most of his friends lived outside the city, unfortunately Aradia's hive was the furthest from his.  
Being a rustblood she didn't get first choice of where to place her hive or the size of the structure itself.  
She choose to live away from the city, closer to the ruins and caves with which she was so much more accustomed.

They both walked with a spring in their step and a smile on their face as the lights of the city faded into the distance and the moonlit leaves of the forest became ever more pink.

After half an hour of tiresome walking and borderline red flirtation they eventually reached a clearing of sorts.  
The waving trees and leaf covered ground slowly morphed into tufts of grass and pockets of wild flowers.  
As they got further in, the ever present sound of the wind in the trees faded with every step taken, leaving an empty, ominous atmosphere.  
Neither of the duo picked up on this, nevertheless they continued forward.

The Aries's face lit up for within the large space stood several half buried, moss covered stone structures.  
The Gemini cared little for them, his initial thought of how he could have done this on Minecraft but with half the required effort.

As they trekked further into the clearing Aradia started fangirling over the scattered pieces of stone in the ground.  
Sollux just said "Yes" a lot and nodded whilst following her through the increasingly obvious labyrinth they were getting caught up in.

Many lectures on rune inscriptions later they approached a large opening in the ground that stood directly in the center of the clearing.  
The air around it was cold and dry.  
They both peered over the edge and down into the abyss. Sollux gulped and stepped back a little.  
Aradia on the other hand pondered for a moment, before taking off her backpack and rummaging through it's contents.  
Sollux didn't like where this was going.  
Within passing seconds of bangs and rattles she produced her whip from the pack.  
The bifurcated troll watched cautiously as she tied it to an out grown root on the bank and let it unravel to it's full length, down the face of the crevice.

A moment later she had reattached her pack and was already rappelling down into the unknown, without even mentioning a word to Sollux, as was her practical demeanour.  
Sollux poked his head over and watched her form dissipate into the darkness.

He called down to her, "Uhhhhh aa, I'm still here ya know." The depths caused his voice to echo several times over.

A few seconds later he received a reply, in the same echo format as his.

"I'm at the bottom of the pit! Use the whip to climb down!"

He trembled slightly at the idea.

"D-do I really have to?"

The quiet sound of Aradia facepalming ricocheted off the walls of the chasm.

"Yes! please? It's perfectly safe, and if you do fall I'll catch you!"

Sollux thought for a minute: He wasn't trained well enough yet to float down via his powers, he had to do this.  
Also, Aradias promise was somewhat lackluster. He knew she wasn't strong enough to catch him from this height, telekinesis or not.  
She probably wasn't counting on him being this unnerved to even think about her capabilities.

After taking a deep breath and pushing aside any and all possible outcomes ending in his demise, Sollux stepped forward and took a firm yet nervy hold on the whip.

He frantically pulled his body over the edge and re-orientated himself so his feet were against the dusty wall of dirt. Success was had.

That was, from what little experience he had, the hardest part.  
He slowly eased his grasp and pushed away; eventual rinse and repeat.  
A smile appeared on his face, he was actually doing it: being adventurous.

After a few small steps Aradia cheered gleefully to him.

"Well done Sollux! You're almost at the bottom!

Sollux looked down and attempted another increment of decent, making sure his foot didn't slip on a stray rock.

"Pthth this is easy, wheres a challenge when you~"

He spoke too soon. In his distraction his left foot slipped against the dry surface and his right soon followed.  
His body slammed against it and he lost his grip.

Aradia watched in horror as gravity got it's vengeance for his overzealous behavior.  
Time slowed down around him as his thoughts and heart went into a state of shock.

Was this the end?

Such a question needed time to be answered, and despite the somewhat blissful change in pace merely a second passed before he fell into Aradias arms.

She bent at the knees a little upon impact, but being a strong troll she held her ground with the boy still in her arms, bridal style.  
Sollux was still slightly shocked, Aradia took it upon herself to be the first to speak.

"See I told you I'd catch you. Hehe, You okay?"

Sollux blushed slightly.

"Yeah I'm fine, you can uhhhh put me down now"

Aradia dropped him onto his feet.

"Good because you weigh a ton and my arms are killing me!"

After a few awkward seconds both of them looked up to from where they just transcended.

Glancing around, Aradia noticed a small glint of light on the far wall and walked towards it. Sollux, somewhat scared of the dark cave and it's various spooky sounds, quickly followed.  
Aradia bent over and inspected the luminous chip in the wall with a puzzled look on her face, eventually settling at getting a closer look, she peeped into it like a keyhole.

Sollux just did the usual and stood behind until some kind of eureka moment happened. His eyes couldn't help but wander a little when Aradia bent down, he wasn't sure whether it was intentional but it kept him entertained regardless.  
Eventually his hypnotised state dissipated when the ground beneath his feet began to shake.

"W-What's going on?!"

"I just opened the a door, the light was the opening mechanism! So calm your rumble spheres.. I mean tits!" Giggled Aradia with a wink.

Sollux smiled and blushed a little; It was cute that she tried to imitate him in such a way. Aradia was always there to make him feel a little more self worth then he usually could muster on his own.

Suddenly, with a great commotion causing rumble, a section of the wall fell into the floor, creating a large enough threshold for both trolls to pass through into some form of a secret sepulchre.

Aradia merrily skipped to the threshold and cautiously examined it.  
After the proper checks were applied she signalled for her companion to follow her into the theoretical unknown.  
Aradia waited for him and they both walked side by side. The presence of another being made what they were doing seem all the less terror inducing.

They stepped in together. Not a moment passed before that which was previously shrouded became visible.  
The room was fairly well sized, no bigger than Sollux's respiteblock.  
The dry arid ground slowly transitioned to honey coloured stone over the entrance.

The whole room was made out of it. Apart from several wooden torches that were mounted along the upper portion of the walls, which somehow spontaneously ignited upon by entry of the two explorers.

Aradia freely stepped in and examined her surroundings.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

Sollux glanced at the walls, adjusting his glasses to get a better look.

He was captivated. Along the walls were 2 rows of engraved symbols that stretched round to every side of the room and back again. The lowest being just above the height of the door and the highest being just below the ceiling. Every row was bordered by lines that separated it from the other. It's intricacy and complexity begged Sollux to question it further.

"What are these symbols?"

Aradia walked to the side opposite the door and began fondling the wall.

The result was a small panel emerging from the wall. It's frame was made from the same material as the rest of the room, but the monitor was akin to any husktop.

"It's the code I mentioned, here's the interface. Think you can do it, Mr Uberhacker?"

Sollux smirked and gave Aradia a look that said 'step aside, I mean business'... And so she did.  
She watched closely as he approached the interface and began tapping away, it was obviously a touch screen.  
Aradia tried to maintain her interest in Sollux until he was finished, whenever he glanced round at a symbol she traced his line of site and looked at it too.  
She even let out a little grin every time Sollux mumbled something, whether it be "Okay lets parse that" or "Imma pull that from the array now".

Sollux noticed her smiling cutely out of the corner of his eye and such distractions resulted in a few errors, which caused the screen to flash red. The inept hacker resisted the temptation to scream and humbly started again. He didn't want to flip out around Aradia, he'd never hear the end of it.

After half an hour of tapping and teeth grinding Sollux stepped back and let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you done?" asked Aradia, her interest peaked.

"Just gotta input the code. Would you do the honours? Just hit the green symbol and we're ready to go!"

Aradia nervously walked towards the monitor and her eyes frantically scanned it. There was more than just one green symbol, in fact there was loads.  
She was too stubborn to ask for help so she picked the green symbol that resembled a ghost, this was meant to be a tomb after all.  
Thankfully blind faith succeeded and by surprise the section of the wall adjacent to the panel collapsed into the floor, none too different to the last only with less dust and noise.

Aradia squealed and stepped through, Sollux followed her. He'd heard many a time from her of how she received an injury from a naive action such as this, and he couldn't help but feel protective.

He expected the worst when he heard a hushed scream, but his paranoia was far from appropriate.  
Aradia stood paralysed in awe, her eyes wide with shock and joy.

This room was much smaller than the last in all dimensions, with just one band of symbols. In the centre was a head sized sphere mounted on a three pronged frame, of which had a gothic design that well contrasted the rest of the so called temple.

The sphere itself was made from a clear glass like material that contained a cloudy maelstrom with colours ranging from snow white to ash black.  
In Aradia's eyes it was an artifact, and like in many aforementioned cases her naive nature got the best of her.  
She slowly walked towards the object of such desire, hand out stretched, ready to touch it.

Sollux on the other hand was reading the band of symbols. He'd gotten used to this language and understood some of the symbols meanings.

After a quick skim read he laughed to himself.

"It's funny aa, the symbols are warning us of something."

He didn't get a response.  
In terror he turned round to see Aradia approaching the orb slowly in a weird hypnotic fashion.  
He was quick to intercept, trying to swat his hand away with hers.  
But like many times in these young trolls lives quite the opposite of what they intended happened.  
Solluxs hand got caught between the orb and Aradia's ever approaching hand.

He was too late. In the blink of an eye, Aradia's small slender hand shot towards the damned object like a magnet, pressing Sollux's onto it in the process.

"aa what the fu-"

He could utter no more. His vision blurred, and his mind went the same way. All life fled his body, only to be replaced with cold and dread.

He was very soon woken up by a slight nudging from Aradia, it wasn't a playful kind either.  
Her soulless and lost voice shouted muffled words of terror at him.  
His first sight was her tear stained face. He tried to reach up from the cold stone floor and wipe away the tears, let her know it was okay.  
But it wasn't, he was hit with a crippling headache that sent his whole body into shock, on the floor again.

Aradia fell beside him, in pain of somewhere near the same magnitude. The color in her cheeks slowly blended into grey.  
With all her fading strength she could only utter few words, and her words of choice were:  
"I can hear the voices Sollux, can you?"

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**Well that's it.  
****Thanks for reading if you made it this far.  
****I don't consider this my best work, but meh I tried.  
~Fav Follow and Review~**


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